John Cockayne joins the DG Team

We would like to welcome John Cockayne to Destination Golf’s global team in his role as golf ambassador for Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands…...

John’s eclectic golf, event and business background includes key roles in the development and running some of the largest conferences and fund raising projects in South Africa, to a key role in the development of professional golf’s Winter Tour, working as a tournament official with the PGA Sunshine Circuit for five years and running his own marketing, event management and consultancy business since 1989.

He is a founder and life member of the PGA of South Africa, the first point of contact for the Association of Residential Communities in terms of its golf estates’ members and the golf editor of Estate Living Magazine which is the Associations’ official publication.

John has had an extensive involvement in tourism since the middle 1980’s in developing travel and event products for South Africa Airways and various international consumer brands, hotel groups, airlines and corporate clients.

Over the same period he has had a parallel career as a writer and in sport journalism while providing features, articles, travel and coaching content for a wide range of publications including The Compleat Golfer, Rapport, Business Day, Tee & Sandwedges, ThisDay, Tee to Green, The Muscat Daily and Golf Digest.

John is very excited at the prospect of teaming up with Destination Golf:

“I have lived in and out of Africa since attending prep school in Kenya in the 1960’s and have developed a love for the continent and particularly the southern Africa region and the magnificent islands of the Indian Ocean. I chose to pursue a professional golf career in South Africa because of its glorious weather and the abundance of magnificent golf courses – surely a major contributing factor to its having punched well above its weight in terms of the numbers of golf’s Majors won by players from this region.
The region is a paradise for golfers with world class courses, fantastic accommodation, ridiculously affordable prices and none of the culture shock that can be experienced in many parts of Africa by people travelling on vacation from other continents."

"Combine golf with big game, some of the best beaches on the planet, unique attractions such as the Cradle of Humankind and you have mix which makes the region a perfect destination for a combined golf and family vacation which will offer something for everyone to do."

"Add in the paradise islands off the East coast and you have possibly the best destination in the World and one which for the UK, Europe and the Gulf involves no jet lag!"

"South Africa has recently identified tourism in all its forms as being a major business growth point over the next decade and Dermot, Kathy and the Destination Golf team have put together a terrific shop window for golf which I believe will be an ideal tool through which to further promote the region as a golf destination.”

Commenting on behalf of Destination Golf, Dermot Synnott, CEO & Managing Director said: "We publish for most inbound tourism destinations in Europe now and opened operations in SE Asia last year too. Southern Africa is a fantastic golf destination, I am very aware of its offering having visited many of the courses and resorts a few years back. Our readers in Europe and around the World will be interested in this destination, so we are looking forward to putting our twist on promoting it."

"John is extremely active and knowledgeable in this market, we look forward to working close with him and highlighting individual golf courses and resorts that our readers will enjoy."

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About DGT

Destination Golf Travel is a leading golf tourism company. It is an expert in Destination Marketing, Golf Publishing, Golf Events, Golf Consultancy and Golf Marketing Campaigns. The team at Destination Golf Travel are ideally positioned to deliver a committed and professional service.